Elena Glinskaya

Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya ( – 4 April 1538) was the grand princess consort of Moscow as the second wife of Vasili III of Russia, and de facto regent of Russia from 1533 until her death in 1538. She was the mother of the first crowned tsar Ivan IV.

Biography Early life and marriage Elena was born in 1510 as the daughter of Prince , a member of the Glinsky family, and Serbian Princess Ana Jakšić from the Jakšić noble family. Originally, the family lived on the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, Glinskaya's uncle, Prince Mikhail Lvovich Glinsky, betrayed the commonwealth and joined the side of the Principality of Moscow in the Third Lithuanian-Muscovite War in 1508, in what would come to be known as the Glinski rebellion. As a result, the Glinsky family was exiled and their lands confiscated. The ruler of Moscow, Grand Duke Vasili III, bestowed on them the cities of Maloyaroslavets and Borovsk. Mikhail participated in the Siege of Smolensk in 1514, hoping to receive Smolensk as a gift from Vasili; offended when Vasili did not grant him Smolensk, he attempted to join the side of the Lithuanians. For this betrayal he was imprisoned, and would only be released in 1527 on the request of his niece Elena. For Elena, he shaved his beard and changed his royal clothing for a Polish kontusz, an action considered highly unusual for a tsar. They were married on 21 January 1526.

On 25 August 1530, Glinskaya gave birth to their first son, Ioann (the future Ivan the Terrible) named after John the Baptist. On 28 October 1532, their second son, Yuri (future Prince Yuri of Uglich), was born.

Regency

On his deathbed, Vasili III transferred his powers to her until their elder son Ivan, who was only 3 at the time, was mature enough to rule the country. According to the chronicles later composed at the court of Ivan, Vasili presented Glinskaya with the sceptre, allowing her to rule as regent. However, according to the Pskov Chronicle, Vasili entrusted a small boyar council with taking care of Ivan until he was 15. Generally, widows of Moscow sovereigns were given an appanage, but they were never allowed to become regents. Before he died, Vasili added Glinskaya's uncle Mikhail as an executor of his will, since Mikhail was Glinskaya's kin, and entrusted him with the safety of the royal family.

Glinskaya took as her lover a favourite, the boyar . Soon after, Ovchina-Obolensky began to seek the expulsion of Mikhail Glinsky from the court. By August 1534, Mikhail Glinsky was accused of poisoning Vasili III and imprisoned, and eventually executed.

In February of the same year, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Sigismund I the Old waged war against Moscow; in July, he besieged the city of Starodub. At the same time, Crimean Tatar forces attacked Ryazan Oblast, forcing Glinskaya to wage a war on two fronts; Starodub was destroyed. In February 1536, the war turned in the favor of the Russians, and Sigismund decided to make peace. An armistice was signed in February 1537.